title: Computing with bacterial constituents, cells and populations: from bioputing to bactoputing.
abstract: The relevance of biological materials and processes to computing-alias bioputing-has been explored for decades. These materials include DNA, RNA and proteins, while the processes include transcription, translation, signal transduction and regulation. Recently, the use of bacteria themselves as living computers has been explored but this use generally falls within the classical paradigm of computing. Computer scientists, however, have a variety of problems to which they seek solutions, while microbiologists are having new insights into the problems bacteria are solving and how they are solving them. Here, we envisage that bacteria might be used for new sorts of computing. These could be based on the capacity of bacteria to grow, move and adapt to a myriad different fickle environments both as individuals and as populations of bacteria plus bacteriophage. New principles might be based on the way that bacteria explore phenotype space via hyperstructure dynamics and the fundamental nature of the cell cycle. This computing might even extend to developing a high level language appropriate to using populations of bacteria and bacteriophage. Here, we offer a speculative tour of what we term bactoputing, namely the use of the natural behaviour of bacteria for calculating.
authors.affiliation: Epigenomics Project, Genopole Campus 1, Bât. Genavenir 6, 5 rue Henri Desbruères, 91030, Évry Cedex, France. victor.norris@univ-rouen.fr
authors.forename: Vic
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Norris
authors.forename: Abdallah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zemirline
authors.forename: Patrick
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authors.lastname: Amar
authors.forename: Jean Nicolas
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Audinot
authors.forename: Pascal
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authors.lastname: Ballet
authors.forename: Eshel
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authors.lastname: Ben-Jacob
authors.forename: Gilles
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authors.lastname: Bernot
authors.forename: Guillaume
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authors.lastname: Beslon
authors.forename: Armelle
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authors.lastname: Fanchon
authors.forename: Jean-Louis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Giavitto
authors.forename: Nicolas
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authors.lastname: Glade
authors.forename: Patrick
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authors.lastname: Greussay
authors.forename: Yohann
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authors.lastname: Grondin
authors.forename: James A
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authors.lastname: Foster
authors.forename: Guillaume
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authors.lastname: Hutzler
authors.forename: Jürgen
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authors.lastname: Jost
authors.forename: Francois
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authors.lastname: Kepes
authors.forename: Olivier
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authors.lastname: Michel
authors.forename: Franck
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authors.lastname: Molina
authors.forename: Jacqueline
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authors.lastname: Signorini
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authors.lastname: Stano
authors.forename: Alain R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Thierry
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000166:cytology*; D003199:Computer Systems